1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a width variable structure of a moving and transport means using mecanum wheels, and more particularly, to a width variable structure of a moving and transport means using mecanum wheels, which can adjust the width of the moving and transport means in horizontal and vertical directions using four wheels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A mecanum wheel is a wheel that moves in a diagonal direction rather than a rotating direction when idle rollers are slantingly mounted on the all the wheels. FIGS. 1A to 1E, illustrate a conventional moving and transport means using mecanum wheels. In particular, idle rollers are coupled to the rotating mecanum wheels, and when the mecanum wheels are rotated, the moving direction of the moving and transport means becomes a diagonal direction as indicated by an arrow.
In this case, if the mecanum wheels are connected, the object moves in a direction that corresponds to a sum vector in a diagonal direction of the respective mecanum wheels. That is, by mounting the mecanum wheels in different slanting directions to face each other and rotating all the mecanum wheels in one direction, the object moves forward.
FIG. 1A illustrates the driving principle of mecanum wheels in which the moving and transport means configured to move forward and backward, and FIG. 1B illustrates the driving principle of mecanum wheels in which the moving and transport means configured to move left and right. FIG. 1C illustrates the driving principle of mecanum wheels in which the moving and transport means configured to move in forward left and forward right diagonal directions, and FIG. 1D illustrates the driving principle of mecanum wheels in which the moving and transport means configured to move backwards left and backwards right diagonal directions. On the other hand, FIG. 1E illustrates the driving principle of mecanum wheels in which the moving and transport means configured to move clockwise or counterclockwise.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, a width variable structure of a moving and transport means using mecanum wheels in the related art varies the width in the vertical direction of the moving and transport means using the mecanum wheels. In the above-described width variable structure, mecanum wheels 10 and 11, provided on the forward left and right sides, are connected through a forward link 21, the mecanum wheels 12, and 13 provided on the back left and right sides are connected through a backward link 22, and an actuator 30 for driving the forward link 21 and the backward link 22 is additionally provided.
As described above, in the related art, since the width of the moving and transport means can be varied only through the actuator 30, the manufacturing cost and the weight of the moving and transport means are increased due to the increase of the constituent components to degrade the merchantability. Further, since the variable width of the moving and transport means can be adjusted only in the vertical direction, the technique is limited.